Chinatown leaders 'left behind' in Northeast False Creek plan

A welcome to Chinatown sign hangs on the side of the Georgia Viaduct. The future of the area underneath the viaducts is included in the Northeast False Creek plan, which the city is voting on Tuesday.Arlen Redekop / PNG

Some members of Vancouver’s Chinatown said the community is being left out in the Northeast False Creek plan which goes before council on Tuesday.

The sweeping plan lays out the vision for a waterfront neighbourhood with mixed-used developments that would eventually be home to up to 12,000 people. But for some, the crux of the plan lies in two unassuming blocks between Prior and Union, east and west of Main Street — land expropriated in the late 1960s from Chinatown and Hogan’s Alley to make way for the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts.

Discussions were ongoing between Chinatown groups and the city when in late January, the city released the 174-page plan, which suggests city planners had already “planned away” the two blocks in question, without adequate consultation, said Henry Yu.

“We were left behind the consultation process,” said Yu, a UBC history professor who sits on a Chinatown working committee that was in discussion with the city. “Chinatown should at least have some say.”

The Northeast False Creek plan calls for a 27,000-square-foot cultural centre on 898 Main Street that will be a focal point for the Vancouver’s black community.

Based on his understanding from discussions with the city, the “pencilled in” plan for the other block on the west side of Main is to sell it and use the revenue for the sale to pay for the other block, said Yu. “At this point in the plan, there’s nothing for Chinatown.”

The plan lists a number of initiatives for Chinatown, including a more connected transportation system and possibly naming “assets” in the area to honour Chinese-Canadian contributions and history.

It also promises to support the Keefer Memorial Square redesign, “conserve, commemorate and enhance living heritage and cultural assets in Chinatown,” and “explore opportunities to designate cultural space within Northeast False Creek for storytelling and other activities.”

Yu said the Chinatown community acknowledged the impact the expropriation had on Hogan’s Alley and the black community.

“A lot of people suffered and lost their homes and businesses,” he said. “We all ought to be talking about how to find some justice out of this, but it has to be done where we’re not pitted against each other.”

Fred Mah, chair of the Chinatown Society Heritage Building Association, said he doesn’t support the plan in its current form.

Chinatown has supported the plan to tear down the viaducts on three conditions, he said, including one that stipulates the two blocks be considered part of Chinatown for planning purposes so it can ensure any buildings’ architectural character and the type of businesses they house fit well in that “transition area” that will serve as the gateway to Chinatown.

The community also wants part of the land to be designated seniors and affordable housing and to make sure access to Chinatown isn’t impeded, said Mah.

The Northeast False Creek plan, which notes an opportunity for “reconciliation and cultural redress” in replacing the viaducts, falls short of its goal, he said.

Mah is calling on the city to create a steering committee that would include representatives from Chinatown and Hogan’s Alley to discuss the future of the two blocks.

Chinatown’s advocates has submitted some amendments they hope would be presented to council.

The plan also drew criticism from people concerned the plan could put the city’s famed mountain vistas in jeopardy.

Three proposed buildings — two by developer Concord Pacific and one by B.C. Pavilion Corporation — exceed height limits imposed by the city’s view corridor policy that’s been in place since the 1980’s, according to the website Save our Skyline YVR.

Council heard from speakers on the plan Jan. 31. It is expected to vote on it Tuesday.

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